OFF TOPIC for anyone who wants to help stop this

[Guest guest]

June 5, 2001

 

 

The recent change in the U.S. Senate leadership dramatically

increases the

importance of repealing by June 15, 2001 the so-called federal medical

privacy rule that was promulgated by the Clinton administration. Our

window

of opportunity is quickly closing and Senators Ted Kennedy and Hillary

Clinton will soon start working aggressively to keep it from opening

again.

 

The much-touted federal medical privacy rule is a 367-page sham on the

American people and as time passes, more people are realizing just how

dangerous this 367-page monster is.

 

On February 9, 2000, we alerted you to the fact that your private

medical

records and those of your children will soon be an open file -

without your

consent or knowledge. Thousands of you sent comments to Health and

Human

Services objecting to this dangerous rule. On June 14, 2000,

Congressman

Ron Paul introduced an amendment to a Labor-H.H.S. appropriations

bill that

would temporarily withhold funding for the creation and

implementation of

the " unique health identifier. " Dr. Paul's amendment was accepted due

to

your efforts at the time. However, on October 13, 2001, our success

with

the Paul amendment was threatened. A conference committee was

planning to

remove the Paul amendment at the last minute. However, due to your

quick

action, the threat was squelched.

 

On March 15, 2001, Congressman Paul submitted H.J. Res. 38 to outright

repeal the so-called federal medical privacy rule because of it being

such

an enormous sham on the American people. Dr. Paul submitted H.J.

Res. 38

under the Congressional Review Act of 1996. The Congressional Review

Act

allows Congress to repeal, within 90 days, a federal agency's

regulation by

bypassing the normal time-consuming and cumbersome legislative

procedures.

In other words, H.J. Res. 38 can bypass the normal House committee

process

and go to the House floor for a vote and, if passed by the House, it

will

bypass the Senate committee process as well and go to the Senate

floor for a

vote.

 

If H.J. Res. 38 doesn't pass by June 15th, it can only be resubmitted

as a

standard bill; thus being subject to the normal legislative process -

and

that is when Senators Kennedy and Clinton come into play. When the

U.S.

Senate changes its leadership, Senator Kennedy will become the

chairman of

the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and Senator

Hillary Clinton will be a majority member of that committee. Senator

Kennedy's committee, with Senator Hillary Clinton as one of its

members,

will be the Senate committee that has jurisdiction on any bill that

would

attempt to repeal the federal medical privacy rule - the very medical

privacy rule that Senators Kennedy and Clinton have worked so hard to

create

and implement. The very two people who created the monster that we

are

trying to slay are now going to be in a strong position to protect

their

monster from harm.

 

Keep in mind that Senator Kennedy, in 1973, was instrumental in

creating

health maintenance organization (HMOs.) Senator Kennedy touted HMOs

as the

way to lower the cost and improve the quality of health care in the

U.S.

How many people believe that has happened? Keep in mind that he and

Mrs.

Hillary Clinton, in 1996, were instrumental in designing and passing

Health

Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA) and it was

HIPAA that later spawned the now-famous, so-called federal medical

privacy

rule that we've been fighting against. How many people believe their

health

insurance is now more portable and accountable? By the way, if you

thought

the infamous Clinton Health Security Act of 1992-93 (commonly known as

Hillary Care) with its socialized prescription of assigning a " unique

health identifier " to every man, woman, and child; of creating a

government-sanctioned national medical database; of rationing health

care,

etc. died, then think again. HIPAA, passed in 1996, is Hillary Care -

alive

and well!

 

Congressman Ron Paul hosted a briefing about the federal medical

privacy

rule for congressional staff on May 16, 2001 so they could learn how

sham

the privacy rule really is. Dr. Paul asked Sue Blevins the president

of the

Institute for Health Freedom to speak to the congressional staff

members.

Fifty-one staff members attended. Ms. Blevins, a registered nurse and

health policy expert, has actually read and studied the 367-page

federal

medical privacy rule. She told the audience that the so-called

medical

privacy rule actually weakens a person's ability to control access to

their

medical records while giving the federal government and its agents

greater

authority to access to a person's medical records - without patient

consent!

 

Sue Blevins characterized HIPAA and the resulting federal medical

privacy

rule as being the most sweeping, government-devised change of health

care in

our country's history; even more sweeping than the establishment of

Medicare

and Medicaid and HMOs. Ms. Blevins gave each staff member a briefing

book documenting her findings and conclusions as a result of her

study of

the 367-page rule. You can read this same briefing book and Ms.

Blevins'

outstanding summary title " Myths & Facts " by clicking

http://www.forhealthfreedom.org/Publications/Privacy/MedPrivLinks.html

..

 

 

The so-called federal medical privacy rule will give us dramatically

less

control over the privacy of our personal medical records than we have

now

and give the federal government and authorized third parties more

access to

our most personal information WITHOUT our consent. Examples of third

parties and purposes for which access to our records is permitted

include:

 

1. Oversight of the health care system.

2. FDA monitoring (including dietary supplements).

3. Public health surveillance and activities.

4. Foreign governments collaborating with U.S. public health

officials.

5. Research (if an Institutional Review Board or privacy board waives

consent).

6. Law enforcement activities.

7. Judicial and administrative proceedings.

8. HHS-Office of Civil Rights.

 

" The regulations also permit doctors and health plans to release

intimate

medical records to government agencies for almost any purpose,

reversing the

old presumption that release is unethical unless required by law, "

wrote

Brigid McMenamin in " Prescription for Snooping - New Medical Privacy

Rules

Will Only Open More Files to Unwarranted View, " Forbes, May 28, 2001.

 

We must continue our work and see that the U.S. House vote on H.J.

Res. 38

no later than June 15, 2001. House Speaker Dennis Hastert can make it

happen. He can schedule a vote on H.J. Res. 38 and that is what we

are

asking him to do.

 

Contact Speaker Hastert in one or both of the following ways:

1. Sign a petition at

http://www.thelibertycommittee.org/medprivacypetition.htm

..

 

Petitions are delivered daily to Speaker Hastert's office.

2. Call Speaker Hastert's office at 202-225-0600.

 

Our window of opportunity is closing and there are those that will

work to

keep it closed. Please sign a petition now and call Speaker Hastert's

office to ask him to schedule a vote on H.J. Res. 38.

 

Kent Snyder

The Liberty Committee

http://www.thelibertycommittee.org

 

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..

 

 

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